Americans politically divided on immigrants

Pew reported that at current rates, non-Hispanic whites will make up less than half of the US population by 2055, at which point it will begin becoming more hard to recognize any clear racial majority in the nation.

Over the next 50 years, Pew expects new immigrants and their descendants – representing an estimated 103 million people – to account for nearly the entirety of the projected USA population increase, at around 88 percent of it. Feighan, who chaired the House Immigration subcommittee, argued that a family-unification preference in immigration law would establish, in the words of a glowing profile in the American Legion magazine, “a naturally operating national-origins system”, because it would favor immigration from the northern and western European countries that at the time dominated the USA population. Co-author of “Strangers No More” and “Remaking the American Mainstream”. For the ensuing 40 years, those second and third generation Euro-American ethnics had watched, with a sense of frustration and injustice, as their relatives were blocked from entering the country. Of those, almost half are from Latin America and more than a quarter from Asia, according to a recent Pew Research analysis.

“There are relatively fewer people who would choose to migrate from Mexico so demographic changes in Mexico have led to a somewhat smaller pool of potential migrants”, he said. That is despite the fact that, not long ago, conservative President Reagan enacted immigration reform.

Among Democrats, 55 percent said immigrants were making American society better in the long run, while 24 percent said immigrants were making things worse.

Compare that to the effect Mexican and Asian immigrants seem to be having on demographics across the rest of the country.

The many contributions of those born in other countries to our nation’s betterment deserve to be more widely known and appreciated.

Canada is demographically very similar to Maine – overwhelmingly white, at 86 percent of the population, and older, with a median age of 40.6.

US migration patterns changed plenty from 1850 to 2013.

Overall, concerns about the effects of immigration were highest around crime and the economy. Overall, about half of Americans (49%) say immigration should be decreased.

“The comments by former Governor Jeb Bush on ‘anchor babies, ‘ in which he managed to simultaneously offend the Latino and Asian American communities, are an example of immigrant bashing that is both un-American and on the wrong side of history”, said Lieu. The company conducted the survey online from March 10 until April 6 this year, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percent. What’s more, they have added immeasurably to the nation’s vibrancy, embedding in our culture new literatures, cuisines, music, and businesses.

Among Asian immigrants, 57 percent of those age 25 or older who arrived in 2013 had a bachelor’s degree, up from 47 percent in 1970.